November 12, 2013

Jason Garrett could take back play-calling if he wanted to, but is not going down that road

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he could take over play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Bill Callahan to help improve the team’s sputtering offense but he’s not going to.

“That’s not something we’re really talking about,” Garrett said. “I just think the biggest thing we have to do is evaluate what we have done in all three phases and what’s been good, what hasn’t been good, build and emphasize the things that have been good and correct the other stuff. I have a certain role in this whole process throughout our football team. We’ve just got to make sure we get all this done.”

Garrett’s comment came after owner Jerry Jones said on his radio show Tuesday morning that changing play callers was not an option.

It was Jones who pressed for Garrett to be a walk-around coach this year and turn over play-calling duties to Callahan.

Asked he could return to calling plays for the final six regular season games if he wanted to, Garrett said, “Absolutely.”

Asked why he wouldn’t take over, considering his job could be on the line, Garrett stressed the positives on offense from the first 10 games and said they would work as a coaching staff to improve.

“Yeah, we just need to play better on offense," he said. "The thing you got to remember is we’re among the better scoring teams in the league right now, and that’s been a positive thing for our team. The turnover ratio that we have is a really positive thing, and I think that correlates to winning. The number of takeaways that we’ve gotten on defense correlates to winning and its ability to help you score points. Our red zone offense has been better. There are a lot of positive things we’ve been doing.

"We haven’t played with as good of rhythm on offense recently. The reasons have been different week to week, whether it’s inconsistency running the football or protecting or throwing and catching, and just in general we have to get back to executing ball plays and just doing it more consistently, driving the football and giving ourselves a chance to score.”

The Cowboys rank 19th in offense and have struggled mightily since putting up 522 yards in a 51-48 loss to the Broncos Oct. 6.

After passing for 506 yards against the Broncos, Romo has passed for 206 yards or less in three of the last five games and has had his five lowest completion percentages of the season.